


The nature of an obsession (A magic tale)

by LadyLigeia07



Category: Finder no Hyouteki | Finder Series
Genre: Crimson Spell - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-03 03:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10958715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLigeia07/pseuds/LadyLigeia07
Summary: Surreal and fantasy story/ crossover with 'Crimson spell'. Guest character: Astador





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Grinner_H](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grinner_H/gifts).



**Title** : The nature of an obsession

**Pairing and main characters** : Fei Long/Akihito, mentioned: Asami, guest character: Astador (Crimson Spell)

**Rating** : R

**Warnings** : AU, OOC, vaguely inspired by the poem: ‘A dream within a dream’ (E.A.Poe).

**Genre** : surreal/fantasy

All the characters belong to YA

Comments are welcome.

Beta’ed by Lady Feather (Thanks my friend) ^^

 

The nature of an obsession

A magic tale

 It was late in the evening when he decided to settle in his comfortable armchair in front of the wall- sized window start contemplating the fascinatingly bright view of the lights and tall buildings of the magnificent city. He was so calm looking at the great spectacle through that window’s reinforced glass of his personal apartments, in one of the highest floors of a modern building.

 There were no problems to worry about. All the management of his business was in the right hands. He always trusted the right people to lead the highest positions in the direction of his many companies. He had everything to feel proud about and his many achievements were the proof of that, but he was not really happy.

 The full moon shone brightly in the middle of the dark sky; even the fading light of some blue stars added to the unusual pleasure.

 It was a precious night, one of the few in which he would like to remember what happened in those days, almost two months ago. The light from the lamp on the tea table lit up the room.

 In his right hand, he had a book, an ancient book that he had bought in an antique shop in one of the shops on the numerous dark side streets of an uncommon and faraway city. In its pages there was written the marvelous story of a brave and fiery prince, his loyal and powerful wizard, and the evil sorcerer that put them through terrible agony and gave them so much misery.

 He was thinking about the evil creature at the moment, his ancient and evil name was hard to remember. But looking through the glass at that beaming moon he forgot about the sorcerer and started to think instead about what happened in his life almost two months ago, and its cause.

 He was drowsy and drunk; he had been drinking heavily from a bottle of bourbon that was placed on the tea table, not far from an empty crystal cup. He only wanted to get rid of his painful memories, at least for a moment. He hoped for a single minute of real peace, peace from his terrible thoughts, from the painful and heartbreaking recollections of his terrible actions.

 He knew that he could not avoid the path that he had chosen; he didn’t have the right to regret it. However, sometimes in the middle of the night, he would have liked to think that facts might have been different if only he were not the victim of his own impulsive decisions. In the deepest part of his heart he wanted to see again the cheerful face of that person who kept him company for such a short time. He remembered those moments when they were together in that room, looking at each other with eyes full of desire and lust. He should have known that it could not last.

 Even if sometimes he hoped that in some part of his gentle heart that that person saved a good memory of what had happened between them, he still knew that there was only a small possibility Aki will forgive him completely, one day.

 Just for a split second, he understood that his last thoughts were only an attempt to ease his discomfort and sense of guilt. He had to deal with that painful memory in another way. That kind person did not deserve all the abuses and humiliations he had inflicted on him. He was a meddlesome, but still innocent youngster… and he had started to unconsciously love him while he was his prisoner.

_Painful memories of unrequited love and despair._

 That person was not meant to stay with him, not for so long. That gentle person was only given the choice to avoid misery by pretending to obey his new master and bowing his head to his commands. Aki was genuinely kind and honest… and he was not there with him anymore. He was gone.

 Without wanting to, he fell asleep, and immersed himself in a dream.

_I would like to change what I have done._

 In the first stage of his dream experience he saw the dark magician of the medieval-fantasy book he was reading standing in front of him. A sarcastic smile depicted on his pale face.

“It was your problem that you started to desire what wasn’t yours. Can you hear my voice? Probably you see me as a ghost that haunts your dreams, a grotesque entity that just came here to steal the truth from you. Do you know that no one can buy love? Loving someone is a precious gift that only a few people deserve in this dreadful world. Sadly, you know that. You know the truth since those days when your only wish was to be loved and to give love. Do you remember? Nothing is granted, this is the only truth you should know, and you will ever know as long as you live.”

 He woke up at that very moment, feeling that the dark magician, who in the story was also a demon, wanted only to make him open his soul to the truth. He wanted to make him realize that he will gain nothing from forcing his selfish desires on others.

 ‘I only wanted to be loved,’ he thought. ‘Is love my only fault?’

 Suddenly the light went out. He thought the lamp’s bulb had burned out. Startled, he listened, abruptly, to the soft steps on the floor of his chamber. And then he saw him- the dark magician of his dreams, Astador. He was perhaps the nefarious shadow of his own loneliness. The strange visitor was dressed in a long silky tunic, blue as the remote and deep ocean at the end of the world. Fei Long, startled by his pale face, watched the long red hair flutter softly in the air like curled flames of pure and vivid fire. He did not look that evil after all.

 “Why did you come here?” he asked.

 “I thought that if you saw me straight away, you would be less frightened. Don’t worry; we are old friends, even if you probably don’t remember me. I was your only friend in this world since your childhood. To tell the truth, I only wanted to make you happy. Moreover, I came here to offer you my apology because of what I did unintentionally. I thought that the man you knew seven years ago had good intentions. Don’t you pity me because of my naivety? I regret that I gave you only vain expectations. He wasn’t a person made for you; that man and you were too different. It would have been a mistake if you had gotten involved with him. Don’t you agree with me? I’m not the kind of wizard who would play such a bad joke on a dear friend.”

 “I can’t believe you. I know nothing about you, and I don’t remember if I ever met you even once in my life!”

 He considered almost absurdly that he was calmly chatting with a devilish creature. Might it be possible? Probably he was still dreaming.

 The dark sorcerer came close to him, graciously bent his head to whisper in his ear,

 “I wanted to make you feel comfortable and to apologize for my thoughtless behavior. It was my fault that you fell in love with that man so many years ago. I know that probably tomorrow you may think that this was only a dream and nothing more. Please, forgive me. I only wanted to see you happy.”

 With a gentle smile he slowly melted into the shadows until the chamber only remained illuminated by the beaming silver moon.

 ‘Nobody can buy love,’ Fei Long thought as if those were his own words. ‘Don’t take anything for granted and go ahead with your life. Forget the pain and the hatred - this is my only advice. Tomorrow when you wake up you won’t remember that you saw me in your dreams.’

 He repeated these words in his head without being aware that it was the mysterious wizard who suggested them.

 Then, he dreamed of his father and his last words; through his confused memories he revived those lost days, his painful desires, and at last, the tears and pain of his reluctant lover.

 “Forgive me,” he begged in his dreams, seeing the boy through the daze of his own faults, the same fair smile and bright eyes he learned to love so intensely. Aki was smiling at him.

 He opened his eyes again. Was he only dreaming?

 The moon was shining outside with the enchanting pallor of a beautiful virgin goddess. He wanted to talk to that boy so much, to ask him for forgiveness, hoping on his generous heart for clemency. He imagined their encounter, there, along the remote shore of that deep blue ocean; the golden sand going through the boy’s fine fingers. It was the same place he had just seen in his dream.

 Throwing his head back, he started to sink more in the desperate thoughts about his lost lover. No, he was not his lover from the start. He loved someone else and there was nothing he could do to change that simple and hurtful fact.

 That night was the last time he saw the boy under the light of an unresolved illusion. Deep in his heart he wanted only to sleep, to have uneventful and meaningless dreams.

 He never knew that just for that single night, Astador had allowed him to see the beloved boy again, inside his dream. He filled that sacred space with his tender memory purified of any possible bitterness. Aki was his for the last time, and he showed his affection by whispering tender and passionate words in his ear, caressing pleasantly the dark and loose silken hair of his former captor and lover.

 That was the last time he dreamed of him.

 However, in the morning, he did not have a clear idea of what he had dreamed in the magical hours after that peculiar midnight. And sometimes, reflecting about that night, he thought that his particular experience looked more like a dream within a dream.

***


	2. Part 2 (The echoes of the past)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2- Fantasy story (crossover with Crimson Spell)

**Title** : The nature of an obsession (2)

**Pairing and main characters** : Astador (Crimson Spell)/Fei Long’s mother, Fei Long, Yan Tsui.

**Rating** : PG13

**Warnings** : AU, OOC, OC, vaguely inspired by the poem: ‘Annabel Lee’ (E.A.Poe).

**Genre** : surreal/fantasy

All the main characters belong to YA

Comments are welcome.

Beta’ed by Lady Feather (Thanks my friend) ^^

 

 

The nature of an obsession (2)

(The echoes of the past)

 

 One day, when he was six years old, Fei Long decided to go downstairs alone to visit the basement of the mansion where he had been living since he was born. He was old enough to know that his father, whom he loved so much, wasn’t his real father and that his older brother was the only one who had the right to be acknowledged and accepted as the true heir of their family. Blood ties were considered more important than any concern about his brother real worth as the future family business leader. Even though this painful circumstance that would not allow the boy to be considered by his real merits, he would have kept forever locked in his heart, as a precious memory, the only father he would have ever known in his life.

 That afternoon in the basement, the child’s only wish was to search for the memories of his own past by looking through old family heirlooms in that abandoned and dusty room. That room was some sort of mysterious place since the child had never been there no more than two or three times and always in the company of the servants. There were wood boxes with old documents and trunks full of discarded dresses and discolored fabrics. That place had a powerful smell of humid dust and dark oblivion. It looked as the realm of a long forgotten spiritual being, but it might have been a child’s illusion after all.

 The child was wearing a silk shirt with large sleeves and slacks and he looked around him, delighted to be alone in this place that contained the old memories of his foster family. There was an old bookcase here too, in a corner, still pretty and solid with its chipped wood and dented varnish. It looked like a suitable place to keep something secretly.

 On the shelves of that bookcase, there were countless volumes of ancient chivalrous stories, even some antique books of magic and esotericism. The furniture looked like the private shelter for a long forgotten and secret memory. Through its dusty glass doors the child saw, with infinite interest, those volumes of ancient knowledge. He was surprised to find that on one of those shelves, near a crimson covered book, there was a little porcelain doll with fascinating dark eyes, smooth midnight hair and a long layered red dress of fine silk. He was fascinated by that enchanting vision. Without thinking, he opened the glass doors and took the little doll in his hands. He looked inside the piercing and absorbing eyes that looked almost real and he asked himself if it might be possible that the little doll was the cage for some kind of mighty and trapped soul. The deep eyes looked so real. When he was still thinking of it, he saw clearly some kind of sorrow expression in those dark eyes. They were like two wells of midnight seawater. He remembered an oil painting that decorated one of the walls of the mansion’s main living room. It portrayed a full moon in the sky illuminating the dark water of a mysterious sea. It was a wondrous painting, with an engaging and melancholic view of rare beauty.

 At that very moment, he had clearly the impression that the doll was trying to communicate with him. It seemed that the eyes were telling him, with their mesmerizing appearance: “Please, save me!”

 He was so concentrated watching inside those amazing eyes that he didn’t hear that his brother had entered that special room. He turned around in that very moment and saw the scornful smile on his brother’s face. With a swift movement, he hid the doll in his left wide sleeve.

 “Did you choose this place to hide yourself; trying to avoid the members of your family?”

 The boy knew enough about his brother’s temper to remain watching in silence at his face with an interrogative expression.

 “Oh, yeah! I was forgetting that you aren’t a ‘real’ member of our family. I think that you don’t see the need to repeat myself each time and every day. You know that you are here because of a favor my father owed to an old friend, don’t you? Yeah, I think that the right word for that is ‘charity’. It’s better you don’t forget about it. Is that clear enough for you?” He chuckled sarcastically.

 The little brother nodded, knowing that it would be better to stay calm and not to make his brother furious with an unexpected rebellious action.

 The older brother looked around, and at some point, he saw the glass doors of the bookcase open.

 “What were you doing there? Were you touching those things? Those are antique treasures that my father is planning to sell to a refined collector or even to a museum. Father bought those books during his frequent business trips. Don’t you know that? They are precious and rare.” Then, touching the covers of some of them with delicacy, he picked up the crimson book.

 “My father told me that this, in particular, is a rare volume. It seems that it contains the secret to awake demonic forces. However, who knows if something like that could be true? But just as I said before, don’t touch these things. The next time I see you in this room I will make you pay dearly for that.”

 The child nodded, apparently complying with his order, and went out of the room climbing the stairs quickly.

 He went to his bedroom ad placed the little doll on his bedside table. His room was decorated in the essential and classic way his father liked the most. Only the purple and heavy curtains of the window had a more sophisticated style.

 That night, after giving the goodnight kiss to his father in his personal office near his bedroom, he went to sleep and slid his tired body under the blanket. He watched at the fascinating full moon that was beaming outside of his window. The servants didn’t like his habit of sleeping with the curtains open because they thought the light might disturb his rest, but he always managed to disobey them and stayed watching the moon and the stars. It was a peaceful view.

 That night he dreamed something he would never be able to remember in the future:

 He saw an enchanting young woman that looked identical to his porcelain doll. She had the same dark eyes, the same beautiful black tresses similar to a waterfall at midnight, the same red dress of richer-silk. She was walking along the shore of an unknown blue ocean, at the end of the world. Her uncommon and beautiful features shrank in fear when she saw the monstrous creature, an ancient legend told to her by her ancestors years and years ago. Only in the last minutes of her short life would she be allowed to know the real meaning of her curse, because only in that moment would she be able to remember that it consisted in an eternal cycle of birth and death.

 She started to run along that unforgettable shore of golden sand, trying desperately to escape her fate. Her fine lips pressed in an expression of horror and pain. Suddenly, a dark shadow covered her fragile body with all the frightening awareness of a living nightmare. A demonic spiritual being came from the sky, blowing like a cold wind with its spell of eternal misfortune and tragedy. She had bravely refused to give her soul to him in the past, and her perpetual punishment would be to live and to die forever at the height of her youth.

 She had been pierced by the evil spell which took the form of a demonic cursed sword, and she began to die with a mortal wound on her chest. Her sharp scream sounded like the cry of a dying seagull. The crimson blood flowed instantly, staining the fine, golden sand.

 In that very moment the child saw something else:

 Up in the sky, there was the shadow of another powerful being, a demonic wizard. He was coming to take his revenge against the ominous creature that had dared to kill his incomparable, beautiful lover. Fighting with the diabolic spirit, he realized that he wasn’t able to win against it. At the end of the unequal struggle, he had only managed to painful injure it but without serious consequences. The evil spiritual creature fled away.

 With crystal tears flowing from his golden eyes, the wizard tried in vain as many other times, to awake his human lover, embracing her with his amorous and immortal arms. But he had arrived too late, like all the previous times. Even he had been cursed in the same way as his lover, by losing her forever and ever, time after time. His red hair was fluttering in the air like flames of sorrow and deep pain. She wasn’t there anymore.

 The main feature of his curse was to let him meet his destined lover few days before her death. The same soul in different bodies, with only the same beautiful and meaningful eyes to be recognized. He would have to witness the same crude fact of evilness and death, repeatedly, until the end of time. His only consolation was that this time things had gone differently because she had given birth to a child who he would be able to retrieve someway.

 Awaiting for the day when he would be able to see his lover again, he preserved her soul in a beautiful porcelain doll and sealed it with a powerful spell to keep her safe. His own soul was linked to the fate of his only lover, and his name was known through countless legends and old tales of magic and chivalry. The stories told of his high and intrepid actions, under a different and misleading light, could easily lead to misinterpretation. In order to keep his hopes alive, he promised himself that he would be successful in retrieving the lost child of his beloved one.

 In that unforgettable place along the shore, he took his once again deceased lover in his arms and found a fine place near the whispering ocean where he finally, with a broken heart, buried her, promising they would be able to find each other again, eventually.

 A few years later, he managed to retrieve the child in a huge mansion in an Asian island of splendorous beauty. Even if he hadn’t managed to save her, he would be able to protect her child; even if his demonic nature would not allow him to defend the kid in the same way as a guardian angel.

 The child saw him spreading his black- raven wings in the air, his red hair writhing like snakes surrounding his pale face while he spoke to him, because he knew that the boy was looking at him inside his dream:

 “Fei Long, my dear child, I solemnly promise that I will protect you the best as I can. I’m not an angel, I am a demonic creature, and my manners and my ways could be distasteful; even unintelligible sometimes. I make you this promise since you are the only child my lost love would ever had. You have the same enigmatic expression and the same unreachable beauty of my unforgettable Only One. You will see me forever in your dreams, but you won’t be able to remember that you saw me. My name is Astador and I will be by your side and at your service forever.”

****


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 3- The awakening of the sleeping doll.   
> Crossover with Crimson Spell.

**Title** : The nature of an obsession (3)

**Pairing and main characters** : Astador- Limrus (Crimson Spell) / Fei Long’s mother- Zhuaizhi, Fei Long.

**Rating** : PG13

**Warnings** : AU, OOC, OC

**Genre** : surreal/fantasy

All the main characters belong to YA

Comments are welcome.

Beta’ed by Lady Feather (Thanks my friend) ^^

 

The nature of an obsession (3)

(The awakening of the sleeping doll)

 

 Fei Long did not know that on that night when he had read the book with the crimson cover, he was not conscious that he had invoked the spell that the magic book contained. He had no memory of the content of those dreams where he saw the magician who had followed him throughout his life in secret; like an unknown, unnamed guardian angel.

 One morning, sensing something strange, Fei Long entered the room where he kept the cabinet containing the doll he had found many years before in the basement of his foster father's house. The doll, as always was there, intact, with its exquisite and fragile beauty. The porcelain used to create it preserved its ethereal and fine appearance. It was the most precious object the young man had; he always tried to keep it hidden from the others since he was reasonably afraid of becoming their laughing stock. He simply could not forget how, so many years ago, that doll had tried to communicate with him, using its eyes as if it were the work of a spell. He could not forget the magical aura surrounding the beautiful doll that looked like the cage of a mighty spirit.

 Several months passed and Fei Long went on a business trip to Europe accompanied by some of his most loyal subordinates. The young and shady businessman had thought to invest part of his dishonestly earned money acquiring the rights of some high quality art galleries that both exhibited and sold artistic works. He was interested in paintings and sculptures made with innovative techniques; he was willing to pay a considerable sum of money to have a voice in the decisions of the current management members of certain avant-garde galleries. For this reason, Fei Long’s first gallery on his list was one of those renowned for offering unique works of art. It was located in one of the most famous European cities where there were many well-known innovative artists.

 He was more than willing to be a benefactor for some of the more talented artists’ expensive private lessons. Fei Long had a long conversation with the director and asked him to provide the artists with the best professors he knew. He took the initiative to plan the quantity and the quality of the lessons he intended to offer to those select artists and sculptors.

 The young man had taken with him on the trip his most reliable accountant. One evening after dinner, he began to talk with him to calculate the funds he would have to invest to buy the controlling shares of the art gallery. Fei Long had to plan everything wisely because he had to keep enough in funds to acquire rights to other galleries of his interest as well. The young man knew that the investments in art were seldom profitable, but much depended on the administration of that kind of business. Above all, even if he had not specified it clearly, Fei Long wanted to link his name to the good reputation enjoyed by many art patrons.

 That night the discussion Fei Long had with his accountant had made his ideas clear. After their business talk, they drank vintage wine in their crystal cups and started entertaining themselves with irrelevant chat. At some point they started watching the night view from the large window of the young man's luxury suite. Around midnight they parted for the evening and shortly after Fei Long turned off the lights and retired for the night.

 During the night he dreamed of the wizard that had not appeared in his dreams for months. Within this dream he saw the demonic magical creature with a sad expression and eyes full of tears. With a broken voice, the wizard confided his secret.

 “My chosen one is again in this world, I have known it through a revelation. As I explained to you in the past through a dream, my curse consists in obtaining information about my love’s future reincarnation and by getting to know her shortly before she dies again. I have just seen her in the very city where you are now. If you have the opportunity to find her before I do, could you do something in your power to help her? I did not tell you this before, but I have to do it now: the spiritual bond that connects a mother to her child is one of the most powerful sources of magic that exists in this world. This source is more powerful than any demonic energy because it is the symbol of all the kindness that exists in a human soul. If someone knows how to unleash all the force of that kind of pure magic, this person can fight against any dark force with the weapon kept in their own heart. The pure love of two souls bonded by blood who have been unfairly separated in another life is one of those things a demonic spirit considers truly difficult to fight.”

 While saying this, the demonic wizard fixated his golden eyes on the young man with intensity, piercing his very soul with the painful insistence of his expression. The wizard was always there, in that remote place the young man had seen other times in his dreams: the unforgettable shore of golden sand in a remote sea bathed with the light of the full moon. In his sleep, Fei Long shuddered.

 The next morning when he woke up, he vaguely remembered seeing something in his dream that had made him worry. It was just sensations, the same as had happened sometimes before, but without him being able to understand the reason.

 In the following days the young man had an agenda full of commitments and contingencies. He had to carry out many agreements and for that reason he had to deal with the most important members of the society that were in charge of the management of the art gallery.

 One of those evenings, always for business matters, he had to join a special event where some of the artisans who had managed to make the largest number of sales in the previous months were to attend. The catering service and the hiring of the orchestra were in the hands of a renowned agency that would take care of any detail. It was quite an elegant and well-organized event.

 The atmosphere of the gathering was cheerful and quite relaxed. Fei Long entertained himself talking about various topics with the guests. This pleasant ambience and the kind of people he met represented everything he considered to be refined and tasteful. He liked having contacts with artisans and cultured, refined people.

 In the gallery’s large area where the special event had been organized, the paintings of some of the artists who were attending the party were exhibited. As Fei Long was bringing his champagne glass to his lips, he saw a beautiful girl with long dark hair and delicate features. She was wearing a long red gown and was talking with one of the male guests about one of her paintings in exhibition.

 With curiosity, Fei Long listened how skillfully she was explaining the subject she had chosen for her work. That oil painting portrayed the enigmatic shore of an unknown sea under the moonlight. It was an enchanting artwork. Fei Long approached the girl with fascination, asking to join the conversation. The man who was in front of her and to whom she was explaining her reasons, noticed with growing interest the facial features of the two at that moment. Clearing his voice, he asked if by chance they were siblings.

 Fei Long looked at the girl with surprise. Certainly, there was something true in what the guest had just noticed. Smiling, the man told them that it was truly a curious thing, and without consideration for the obvious perplexity he had noticed in their eyes, only dropped a brief comment as to 'why he was now able to understand all the interest that the young businessman had cultivated for the fine arts’.

 Fei Long shook his head with emphasis, trying to clear the unexpected misunderstanding.

 “Excuse me sir, it is not what you think. This is the first time in my life that I have met the lady here with us.”

 She turned to look at him with an expression of approval in her dark eyes. _That glance,_ he thought _, where had he seen it before?_

 To be honest, there was a lot of truth in what the guest had noticed, Fei Long admitted to himself. That beautiful woman faultlessly resembled him.

 Casually, the young businessman asked what her name was and if she lived in that city for a long time.

 “My name is Zhuaizhi and I have lived in this city for two years. I currently share a small apartment with a friend. I was thinking on traveling as soon as I finished my engagement with this gallery. Anyway, it will only be for a short time. Probably it has nothing to do with the subject we are talking about now, but the friend who shares the apartment with me told me yesterday to be careful. She was worried because I told her that I noticed someone following me the other day when I got out of work. My friend Sheila is a caring person, but I think that she tends to be so much concerned about minor things. She also tried to advise me about the trip I am planning to do.”

 The guest's eyes gleamed for a moment. He was a young man with a curious appearance: he was wearing an elegantly tailored suit, like many others in the room, but it was his pale countenance and his slightly sardonic expression that attracted the attention of the others. His brown irises became red as fire when he heard Zhuaizhi spoke of that person who apparently had been following her. With an almost threatening expression, he asked her if she had ever seen that person again.

 The young woman answered with honesty:

 “What I have told you happened less than a week ago. That night I noticed that a young man was following me. He attracted my attention because he had a worried and sad look. I do not know how to explain it. To make it short I pitied that man in some way. I remember that he had eyes of a color that I had never seen before, maybe it was the reflection of the street lamps in the nearby. I simply went on my way as fast as I could until I saw him no more. Why are you asking me this?”

 The guest’s expression changed becoming kinder, and he finally smiled in an enigmatic way.

 “I’m asking you this because this city, even if probably no one ever told you before, can be pretty dangerous sometimes. You can’t imagine how many persons with drug addictions or sinister intentions you could easily find on your way home every day. I don’t know this for sure but… that person could have been a stalker, a sexually disturbed man who would follow women down the streets… and a pretty girl like you could be an easy prey. If you don’t mind I would like to accompany you home this night.”

 The girl looked at him hesitating; she was not used to be accompanied by men she barely knew.

 Fei Long noticed Zhuaizhi’s distrust and he was about to offer himself to look for someone of utmost reliance to accompany her when he noticed again that bizarre shade in the irises of the young guest.

 At that time, Fei Long looked at the guest intently and asked him, “Excuse me, why are you here? Are you a friend of one of the guest artists? I’m asking you this because it does not seem to me that you are a member of the society that is in charge of the management of this gallery.”

 The guest's expression changed completely and now he seemed rather offended.

 “I do not think this is the case to discuss my personal affairs with an ill- mannered person in front of a lady. Am I wrong?”

 Fei Long gave no importance to his words. There was something in the young guest he definitely did not like. It was not only his looks; Fei Long perceived something similar to a threatening danger surrounding him. Even in the air he started feeling some kind of obscure menace. Something was about to happen.

 It happened suddenly, with all the dark power of a demonic force, the guests in the room saw the walls shaking as if experiencing an earthquake and the lights went out all at once. It was all frightening and inexplicable. Fei Long had not been mistaken about the young guest, and his suspicious nature was to be proven by he was going to see next.

 In an instant, the guest lost any human characteristic to become a living nightmare. He took the form of a dark shadow and only the red eyes burned like an infernal flame. He was a creature of the abyss, a spiritual being who had come to fulfill some kind of prearranged atrocious ritual.

 Time seemed to have frozen in that place; suddenly there was only calm and silence. The other guests were under the influence of a terrifying spell. No one could move, neither could they speak- they all looked like cold marble statues that could be of no assistance. Their mouths were wide open as if they were about to scream helplessly, and their arms were immobile in a gesture of despair.

 Zhuaizhi screamed with all her might at the sudden phenomenon. Only then had she been able to remember her past lives and the nature of her curse, and at that moment she looked at Fei Long with fear. Her dark, beautiful eyes could not hide the secret of the sudden revelation and both saw a gleam of triumph in the demon’s eyes. They realized that now it could have their lives and souls in a single, fast move, both mother and son.

 The demon's jaws opened wide showing the crimson sword with which the curse had to be fulfilled. Its voice sounded like a thunder in the storm; with a laugh of jubilance it was about to throw the sword against the young woman who had started to run to save her life.

 In the midst of all the confusion, Fei Long tried to intervene. He took the gun hidden in the holster under his suit jacket and fired several times without thinking twice. The monstrous creature laughed even more, and said, "Your weapons are useless against a spiritual being like me!"

 At that moment something else happened. The picture that Zhuaizhi had painted seemed to animate, as if it had come to life. The deep dark sea seemed to move under the influence of another spell. The moon above the sea grew in size splendidly. The demon that threatened them looked confused at this strange phenomenon. The moon shone with the intensity of thousands of silver stars and a creature that nobody had noticed before manifested its presence. It was the demonic wizard: Astador.

 The demonic magician with his fiery golden eyes and blazing red hair looked at the other being with a terrifying glance. This time he was positive that he had not been late. Without hesitating, the demonic spirit confronted him.

 The shape of the creature's body could take unexpected forms. The red light of its gaze extinguished for a moment and the clear neighing of a horse was heard in the large room. The creature made of shadows and evil darkness became a huge black horse. The animal’s eyes shone like burning coals and the whole shape of his body lit up as if it consisted of fire. Everything was much more frightening than anyone could imagine.

 The dark magician used his own weapons made of special spells created by great masters of the past. His magic formulas took the form of flashes of intense light. His pale skin was like the moonlight and his long tunic was like dark seawater; he had a glorious and ferocious aspect.

 He fought with all his might to prevent the demonic creature from seizing Zhuaizhi’s life, who was completely beside herself, desperately trying to escape running to the main room of ceremonies through a corridor.

 The magician struggled like never before to protect his loved one's life. Only at the last moment could he see, almost without strength, how the demonic creature had captured the young woman through a spell that paralyzed her limbs for seconds, making her fall to the floor in an instant. In her case, the demonic being had to use twice as much magical power because Zhuaizhi was a cursed creature who had gone through several cycles of death and resurrection.

 It seemed that nothing could be done, and the demonic horse rejoiced with exaltation when it saw the tears in the magician's eyes. That moment of triumph did not allow it to see how Fei Long, who had arrived almost breathless where the young woman was, and had taken her in his arms. She looked at him for a moment and her eyes implored him, as she had done years before, her soul still caged in a doll’s body: "Please, save me."

 Thinking that nothing could have opposed its victory, the evil creature noticed only with the corner of its eye Fei Long and Zhuaizhi. With annoyance, it thought to intervene to end the life of the young woman without wasting time. It had the idea that by throwing the magical crimson sword at that moment could easily annihilate them, although its sword was not necessary to kill a mere mortal, as was the young man. With fury, the dark creature threw its sword, mortally wounding mother and son.

 With her eyes full of tears, the young woman revealed her truth in front of the son who had accompanied his mother to her destiny, although their lives were ending at that precise moment. Without realizing it, the two joined their hands and mingled the blood of the deep wounds they had received from the magical sword. Only the wizard, in the distance, was able to understand the deep meaning, and above all, the magical potential of that gesture. They combined in a single embrace, tears and blood. It was one of the most powerful counterspells in the entire magic world.

 Zhuaizhi trembled spasmodically; her body became translucent as fine porcelain for a few seconds. Fei Long stared in terror at the sudden metamorphosis. It was the way the nature of her curse was manifested. Only then, the demonic horse realized its fatal error. The terrifying animal body, suddenly wrapped in flames, ceased to exist, and it turned again to be the ominous creature made of shadows and darkness. Its desperate cry was heard all over the place at the same time the crimson sword slowly disappeared as the wounds of the mother and son seemed to heal as if under the effect of a purification spell.

 While the demonic creature suffered its defeat, the sorcerer gathered all his remaining forces to invoke the spell known as 'the call back'. The evil creature began disappearing slowly, among painful screams that seemed to come from all those innocent souls that he had cursed throughout his life, for centuries.

 The beautiful girl lay in Fei Long's arms pale as if she were dead. Only the wound procured by the sword of the demonic being had healed. With great power, the magician enshrouded her with the spell that would save the life of his only love.

 The special spell assumed the color of a golden flash of light. The girl trembled again, still unconscious, and painfully resurrected a few seconds later. Her breath resumed, little by little, and her lovely cheeks took color. Opening her dark and distinct eyes, she looked at her son, completely aware of the truth now. Their eyes were so alike that no one in this world could have thought they were not members of the same family.

 The diabolical creature disappeared as if a dark hole in the middle of the room had absorbed it. It became only an echo of evil murmurs repeating: “It’s not the end.”

 Instead, the magician had a completely different opinion. Through the spell he had used, he could hold between his fingers a few drops of Zhuaizhi's blood, which by the moment she awoke gradually transformed into a magical crimson sword, the symbol of her curse.

 The magician smiled, aware that his situation had also changed. Holding the magic sword in his hands, he shed some tears of emotion remembering his own past. Gradually he became again the immortal wizard who had long ago fallen in love with a young princess who had been sentenced to a perennial cycle of life and death. To try to help her in the days to come, he had bound his fate to the fate of the unfortunate princess.

 His physical appearance changed and his long red hair became short and blond. His complexion was not so pale now. His eyes lost that golden glow that common people considered so disturbing. The demonic spirit that had occupied his body until this moment was dematerialized and the light of the magician's blue eyes reflected his new nature. He was again, Limrus, the immortal wizard.

*

 Days passed and Fei Long, thinking of that adventure of his recent past that now seemed to revive in his dreams with unusual intensity, wondered what they were doing now. He had seen them smiling to each other while, in that great room, the broken spell of the demonic creature had begun to fade from all the guests, one after another.

 Limrus and Zhuaizhi seemed so different while she stared at him with great tenderness, recognizing in him the person she had loved for centuries without being aware of it.

 The recently reunited couple promised that they would always try to communicate with Fei Long, letting him know about their lives and their well-being. The young man wondered how long they could stay in this world inside those bodies that belonged to a magical and mystical dimension.

 One morning Fei Long entered the room where he had kept the little porcelain doll. He opened the lacquered cabinet doors and was surprised when he did not find the doll there. That small object had been the cage that had temporarily protected his mother’s cursed soul. She had been reincarnated into a real body twenty years earlier. The young man thought that now that his mother was free, the doll that had kept her soul for some years disappeared because the curse had been finally defeated.

 That same night he dreamed of his beautiful mother as he had seen her in his dream years before. She had the same long dark hair and the same mysterious dark eyes where, this time, he managed to see the image of himself, long before his soul had been corrupted with a life of suffering and crime. In the gaze of that woman he could see reflected a hope, a possibility to change and to leave behind the past. Having already managed to climb to the top, he did not have to get his hands dirty again by murdering inconvenient people like the old days. In his sleep, he sighed with relief.

 She could feel her son looking for a solution to his suffering through her. Both were having the same dream. The broken spell allowed the young mother to live her love story, but it did not allow her to intervene directly in the lives of other people born in her time. She was barely twenty years old and could not protect him as a true mother would do with her child. But she could help him from afar through that the most powerful spell: their special bond.

 Sighing, she looked at him with her hypnotic eyes and said, "You have to start over, like the legendary phoenix that rises from its own ashes, you must do the same thing too. Tomorrow you will not remember seeing me in your dreams, but you will remember my words.”

 As if it were a mere spell, the young mother slowly transformed herself into a new symbol: a softly perfumed red lotus flower -which from inside resembled the sweet mouth of a woman- that told him, in a pleading tone: "When you will see this flower, you will always remember the new opportunity you have been given in life. You saved me and I want to do the same for you. This flower is special and it will be part of your heart now and forever." She had just finished speaking when the flower immediately dissolved to become drops of pure blood and tears. Before it disappeared completely, a soft breeze blew those drops into the son’s eyes. Those drops were so small that they were confused with the breeze. It was the life-giving breath of his own mother.

 The next day Fei Long woke up and realized that he remembered a sweet sensation he had had in his dreams. He slightly remembered a flower and its faint perfume; he only thought it was a unique thing. Out of sheer curiosity that morning, as soon as he finished his account reviewing, he went to the place where he had hidden the porcelain doll in the past, hoping to find it again. Opening the cabinet doors, he could barely contain his surprise when he noticed that in the place where the doll had been there was now a tiny red lotus flower. As if it had been brought there by a magical, invisible hand its roots were immersed in a crystal vase of fresh water and its floating leaves had an extraordinary green color. _The color of hope_.

***

 

**Author's Note:**

> All the characters belong to YA. Comments are welcome. Beta’ed by Lady Feather.


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